GLOSSARY

A combination of two separate white nationalist ideas. 14 signifies “The Fourteen Words,” a motto devised by David Lane, a white nationalist famous for founding a violent group called The Order. The motto is, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The eighth letter of the alphabet is ‘H’, and 88 signifies, “Heil Hitler.”

A term coined in 2010 by a leading white nationalist, Richard Spencer, to refer to people aligned with his perspective. In general, the term “Alt-Right” describes forms of activism that are either white nationalist or tolerant of and willing to align with white nationalism. The term is sometimes used more loosely to include various forms of right wing perspectives that reject more traditional conservative policy activists. Those which are not sympathetic with white nationalism, however, are usually excluded and often called the “Alt-Light.”

The Alt-Right is not an organized movement with acknowledged leadership that can limit its membership, and its defining features are subject to change. CO•RE’s use of the term to denote a movement anchored in white nationalism is consistent with the opening phrases of Spencer’s 2016 policy statement at his National Policy Institute convention that November: “Race is real. Race matters. Race is the foundation of identity.”

A white nationalist group established in 2020 and led by Nick Fuentes, who was 21 years-old at the time of the group’s founding. The organization is best known for organizing annual conventions under the title, America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC). The 2021 and 2022 occasions were held in competition with the prominent conservative CPAC gathering.

America First operates through webcasts by Fuentes, the annual conventions, and occasional actions, such as protest marches. Its members refer to themselves as “groypers” (a term associated with a frog meme resembling Pepe the Frog), and the “Groyper Army,” a phrase that masks the seriousness of the group in ironic humor (see, The Power of Humor). Over the period 2020-21, America First became the most prominent American white nationalist group. It positions itself as a challenge to mainstream conservatism.

A heavy metal musical style with Norwegian roots that typically has fast tempos, shrieking voices, and heavily distorted guitar sound. Much black metal music is not associated with white nationalism and may be hostile to it, but there is a significant neo-Nazi segment of the genre known as National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM).

A belief shared by a group of people that some major event or trend has been intentionally caused by a network of powerful people, operating in secret. The white nationalist alarm about White Genocide is often framed as a conspiracy theory.

A narrative that explains how an existing situation represents a crisis that must be immediately addressed to prevent dramatic consequences. A feature of many extremist movements, which mobilize allegiance by identifying imminent peril and an action plan to address them. In white nationalism, the theory of “White Genocide” represents a central crisis narrative.

An Alt-Right in-group term derived from “cuckold.” A “cuck” is someone viewed by white nationalists as having been duped into giving away what is rightfully theirs to people of other races. The term is also used to denote a man who accepts feminist perspectives. White nationalists also may call a traditional conservative whose views do not embrace the race perspective of white nationalists is a “cuckservative.”

First developed by the white nationalist website “The Right Stuff,” echoes are a print convention that brackets every reference to the name of a Jew in triple parentheses; for example: (((Albert Einstein))). The device is meant both to identify individuals’ Jewish ethnicity and to show the pervasiveness of Jewish influence in contemporary society, which is a basic idea of the theory of White Genocide.

The name of a rock music genre associated with white nationalism. The style is adapted from a popular genre called Synthwave or Vaporwave, and the term is a combination of “fascist” and “Synthwave.”

A term commonly used to denote people who have left the white nationalist movement after a period of sustained involvement.

A formula devised by David Lane, a white nationalist famous for founding a violent group called The Order. The motto is, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” See also 1488.

“Goy” is originally a Hebrew for “nation,” primarily use to refer to peoples other than the Jews (“goyim” is the plural form). Some white nationalists ironically refer to themselves by this Jewish term to signify their anti-Semitic stance.

A term similar to White Genocide, more commonly used in European forms of white nationalism. Unlike White Genocide, the European conspiracy theory tends to focus on Islamic immigration and is less likely to include anti-Semitic themes (though that is not true of the term when borrowed in a US context). The term was coined by the French novelist Renaud Camus in 2010. Although it is not as widespread in the US as the term, “White Genocide,” it became widely known through the slogans, “You will not replace us,” and “Jews will not replace us,” chanted by members of the 2017 “Unite the Right Rally” in Charlottesville.

A political philosophy that originated among European white nationalists and spread to the US. Identitarians see personal identity as predominantly bound up with membership in a racial group. In its white nationalist form, Identitarianism advocates for the preservation of racial purity, generally through geographical separation of races. The term has been adapted into left-wing discourse in the US to advocate for diversity among racial and ethnic groups, leading to policy positions opposite those advocated by white nationalist identitarians.

An identitarian white nationalist group during the period 2016-2020. Originally founded as Identity Evropa, the group was influential in the transformation of white nationalism from a neo-Nazi / skinhead profile to a well-groomed force that presented a mainstream appearance, particularly after it adopted American-themed iconography and rebranded as the American Identity Movement. IE/AIM was a membership organization, requiring dues and focused on activities such as posting flyers and hanging banners from highway bridges. In 2020 the leader of the group, Patrick Casey, joined Nick Fuentes’s America First movement and began to post webcasts. Later that year Casey terminated AIM, stating that the dues-paying membership model of white nationalism was no longer realistic.

“Incel” is an abbreviation of “involuntary celibate,” a person who wishes to have a sexual relationship but cannot find a willing partner. The term was once applied to both genders, but is now used to refer only to men. Incels are part of the larger male grievance culture often called the “manosphere,” formed principally online. Members of the incel movement tend to be intensely misogynistic, and its grievance narrative, advocacy of male supremacism, and presence on forums such as 4chan have led to strong overlap between incel culture and white nationalism. Several acts of deadly mass violence against women have been committed by self-proclaimed incels.

“The Jewish Question” is phrase that has been in use since the 19th century, not always with anti-Semitic intent (Karl Marx titled one of his books with the phrase). However, the abbreviation JQ is a white nationalist innovation. The phrase it is now used most often to refer to the white nationalist belief that Jews are a dangerous threat to white people because they are the leaders of a worldwide conspiracy of “globalists,” planning to destroy the white race and replace it with other races more easily manipulated. When white nationalists speak of the “Jewish Question” they refer to discussions of how to remove the supposed power of Jews in the US or worldwide.

“KEK” is a Korean language rendering of LOL (laugh out loud), a common internet shorthand. White nationalists adapted the term as an ironic reference to a deity: Kek, who is imagined as a god of chaos, ruling an ancient state called Kekistan. The “flag” of Kekistan is a common white nationalist banner; it adapts the Nazi war flag used during World War II, replacing the swastika with a KEK symbol and altering the color to green. Neither the religion nor ancient state is meant seriously.

An Alt-Right plural form of the internet term “lol” (laugh out loud). Frequently used in the phrase, “for the lulz,” it denotes laughs, generally at the expense of a liberal audience that has been intentionally “triggered” through forms of online or real-world “trolling.”

An informal term vaguely pointing toward a range of online forums, websites, blogs, and so forth that advocate for men’s rights in various forms. Some segments of the manosphere focus on mainstream men’s rights issues, such as divorced fathers’ custody or visitation rights. Other elements are more stridently anti-feminist or straightforwardly misogynist, relying on a narrative of grievance to justify male domestic or workplace dominance, or violence against women. (See Incels for an extreme example.) Manosphere groups that highlight male grievance, anti-feminism, and blatant misogyny often share ideas and membership with white nationalist groups.

A general term coined over forty years ago as an academic term, and now in wide popular use. It refers to a visual symbol or verbal formula that has broad cultural resonance or that spreads rapidly and can be appropriated and put to new uses, often ironic ones.

White nationalists sometimes celebrate and drink milk both as a sign of white identity because of its color, and because lactose intolerance is more frequent among non-European peoples.

A white nationalist in-group term for a person who holds mainstream, often conservative views.

A longstanding hand gesture meaning OK, that white nationalists use to represent the acronym WP, standing for “white power.” Originally proposed by posters on the 4chan chat boards as a fabricated rumor to be spread in order to “troll” liberals, the use of the symbol to mean “white power” has now spread widely among white nationalists and others reacting against calls for increased diversity.

A white nationalist cartoon mascot. Originally a character in a comic with no political orientation, Pepe became the signature persona of the alt-right in the mid-2010s. His slogan, “Feels good man,” plays on the ironic humor common to Alt-Right and white nationalist followers.

A number of extremist movements borrow the idea of taking a pill to have a change of perspective from the movie “The Matrix.” In that movie, the central character learns that the ordinary world people perceive is an illusion perpetuated by superior powers who wish people to remain docile. The hero is offered a choice to take a red pill, which will allow him to see the world as it is, or a blue pill, which will allow him to continue in the comfortable world of illusion.

White nationalists refer to themselves as having been “redpilled”: awakened to the truth and freed of the false ideas that have been spread by powerful groups devoted to keeping the white race unaware of the threats it faces.

According to white nationalists, “normies”—white people who hold mainstream views—live unaware of the crisis facing the white race, because powerful forces of conspiracy have been “bluepilling” them with lies.

The metaphor can be extended to other colors: for example, to be “whitepilled” is to be delighted by some event favorable to the white nationalist movement.

A phrase associated with the “manosphere,” sex realism is the idea that gender differences include both physical and cognitive elements, and are expressions of a natural hierarchy of social function, men being suited to higher-level social roles than women. A reformulation of traditional patriarchy, sex realists contend that efforts for social and political gender equality are unnatural and undermine ideal social order. The term “sex realism” is a conscious emulation of white nationalist “race realism” (or “scientific racism”), and reflects the overlap between male grievance and white grievance cultures.

Shorthand for “social justice warrior,” a dismissive term for advocates of diversity and various forms of equity regarding race and gender. The term is in broad use, beyond white nationalism and the Alt-Right.

A troll is someone who makes a statement primarily in order to disrupt communication or to induce a strong negative response from someone in order to ridicule the reaction. The term basically refers to Internet behavior, but can be used more broadly. Trolling has the serious intent of sabotaging discussion, but its purpose is often cloaked in the language of humor. Trolling is not confined to white nationalism, but has become a trademark of Alt-Right versions of it. More recently, the term “troll” has been used to point to those who use social media to post threats or violent rhetoric.

A term that dismisses statements and actions as non-substantive indications of solidarity with an ideological group. It is most generally used by those on the Right of those on the Left and is in broad social use.

An American white nationalist conspiracy theory that the white race is under lethal attack by powerful forces that are successfully working to replace it with races more easily manipulated. The conspirators are usually identified as globalist Jews. (See webpage discussion: White Genocide.)

A term used by members of Alt-Right groups that appear more mainstream to refer to those who resemble old-style skinhead, neo-Nazi white nationalists whose use of swastikas and Nazi jargon can discredit more restrained white nationalist groups.

A term that denotes the US government’s supposed control by a clique of powerful Jewish interests.

Many of the names and terms in the Glossary are in widespread use with numerous discussions online that can be found through Google search. One reference is cited for each item here, selected because it is reliable and, in some cases, moreinformative or easily accessed. Where Wikipedia includes a specific entry on a term, this is noted by an asterisk next to the term, which links to the Wikipedia entry.

—–

1488*

  • ADL Hate Symbol Database, 1488

Alt-Right*

America First* / Groypers*

Black metal (music)*

Conspiracy theory*

Crisis narrative

  • We have borrowed this term from J.M. Berger, Extremism, esp. pp. 79-82.

Cuck / cuckservative*

Echoes / Triple parentheses*

Fashwave (music)*

Formers

  • We have adopted the terminology mentioned by Christian Picciolini in Congressional testimony (18 September 2019)

Fourteen Words*

Goy / goyim*

Great Replacement*

Identitarianism*

Identity Evropa* / American Identity Movement

Incels*

JQ / Jewish Question*

Kek / Kekistan*

Lulz*

Manosphere*

Meme*

Milk

Normie

OK sign*

Pepe the Frog

Pill

Sex realism

SJW*

Troll / Trolling*

Virtue signaling*

White Genocide*

Wignat

ZOG / Zionist Occupied Government*

2022-06-06T16:12:25+00:00
Copyright 2021 | CO•RE - Bloomington
Go to Top